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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Georgia Organics 5 Million Meal Challenge! Are You In?

Georgia
Organics 5
Million Meals Campaign, is a statewide effort to get 5
million meals made with locally grown food served in K-12 cafeterias
across Georgia. The launch took place at the Atlanta premiere of the
documentary "Cafeteria Man," which screened at Georgia
Public Broadcasting's studios.

OPPORTUNITY:
Farm to School in Your School Wellness Policy

What
is a district wellness policy?

Farm
to school advocates, it’s time to flex your muscle! School
districts across the country are updating their wellness policies.
Each and every school district that receives any funding through the
school breakfast, lunch or snack program is required to have a policy
that covers the whole district and outlines goals for healthy food
and physical activity.A
district wellness policy is a way to enforce schools to set
individualized policy around improving the health and wellness of its
students.

Why
Farm to School?

Farm
to school programs focus on increasing the amount of and preference
for fresh fruits and vegetables among school children, emphasizes
nutrition education based on whole foods, and helps kids develop
understanding of where food comes from. The inherent goals make farm
to school a natural option for your district’s wellness policy. In
fact, in 2009 the Centers for Disease Control identified farm to
school programs as an effective mechanism to improve the quality of
school meals, enhance effectiveness of nutrition education, and
provide opportunities for experiential learning through food and
agriculture.

Help
us get farm to school concepts written in to the school wellness
policies! It would mean:

more
kids will be eating fresh, locally grown food

more
schools implementing farm to school programs

more
support for our local farmers including opportunities to develop
relationships with local schools and students

Never
heard of a wellness policy? Don’t worry, you are not alone! Georgia
Organics has developed a handy little advocate tool to help you.
Access
a handy advocate tool here.

Follow
these steps to join the conversation:

Contact
your school district’s nutrition director to find out where the
wellness policy process is. (They usually work out of your
district’s administrative offices.)

Ask
how parents, students and the larger community can engage in the
process? Are there stakeholder meetings scheduled? Can you submit
comments and a list of supporters?

Ultimately,
every school board votes on the final wellness policy. Engage your
school board member in this conversation now. Don’t wait for the
vote. They need to know the wellness policy is a great way to
support farm to school in a broader way.

Get
Involved:

Interested
in hosting a showing of the movie in your community? Use Cafeteria
Man to help support farm to school in Georgia. Organize a house party
or community screening. Invite Parents, Teachers, Students, School
Food Advocates, Policy Makers, Farmers, others. Learn more about the
film and how to host a screening at CafeteriaMan.com.
Enter promo code: GEORGIA (Publicity materials & School Food
Action guides are available on website for free download.)

Help
us bring more fresh, healthy food to our school kids and expand the
opportunities for GA farmers? Go here and Georgia achieve 5
million meals
and beyond!